FIERCE: Sixteen Authors of Fantasy

by Mercedes Lackey

  “Ah, that makes much more sense. Out of luck, yes. Good expression.”

  “Chuck doesn’t make any sense,” the doctor noted, motioning for Lucius to get dressed. “You are sliding backwards in speech.”

  “Out of cow. That makes sense! Out of nourishment. Hungry. We have a similar saying, but since your people are rarely ever hungry, the context was flimsy. Luck makes much more sense since your city puts stock in that strange fantasy. Anyway, Captain, was there something you wanted, because I had hoped to introduce Lucius to the pesky boys who will begin their practice in half an hour.”

  “I will be accompanying you to this practice.” The Captain finally crossed the threshold. “The men assigned to you are ready for evaluation but no one has seen them work.”

  “Oh, they have tried. It has become a game to hide from Sterling—“

  “Commander Sterling,” the Captain interrupted.

  “—but we have so far done a great job of it. According to Gracas: if you see us, you will have to be killed. Top Secret, he calls it. Something about hidden files.”

  The dimples made a brief appearance in the Captain’s face. “You are welcomed to try to kill me.”

  “I have tried. It hasn’t gone well so far. But I am still hopeful.”

  “Lucius,” the Captain commanded.

  Lucius looked up at Shanti. “The Captain has a knack for tracking. He won’t have a problem finding us, and then he’ll just get in the way.”

  Shanti smiled. “He hasn’t met someone else who can cheat, but you’re right. That is possibly a game for later. Let’s go, we are wasting time.”

  “Fantastic, she is granting hospital releases now. Well, then, what am I needed for?” the doctor asked as he stood.

  Cayan didn’t hide his smile.

  Down the corridor, a middle-aged man hurried up to their party and stepped next to the Captain’s side. “Sir, he is awake.”

  “Give him water but no food. Don’t talk to him or answer questions. I’ll be along later.”

  “Yes, sir.” The man hurried away.

  Outside into the fresh, though still hot, air, another man approached, holding a clipboard and not wearing the customary blue army uniform army. He was small for this town, and balding. “Captain, the ball is set for Sunday week. I require the name of your date when you have a moment. If you require, I can prime her to match your dress. Also, the trade agreements have been drawn up. Those will need to be gone over. The first delivery is past the Mugdock lands but the cargo is small. The rewards will be plenty.”

  “I’ll see to it this evening,” the Captain answered, not sparing a glance as they moved down the hospital steps.

  “In your office, sir?”

  “Yes.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  And the man was gone.

  Half way through the city someone else approached about repairs to the fence. Further still someone found him and asked about agriculture. Someone else about some mining operation. Shanti realized that this man was the hub of the entire city. Everything went through him. If he were removed, it would cripple the city. It would then become the civilians clashing with each other for power, and the military men fighting for top command. The wealth and prosperity of the city would fall into mayhem.

  And the fool had risked everything to pull her from the middle of a battle. Stupid, but also, what an incredibly steep price to repay for her people’s lives.

  As they entered the trees, Shanti slowed her pace. The fresh breeze tickled her cheeks as the lush vitality from the trees infused her Gift. Her feet sank into the loosely packed dirt. Shade cooled her sun-kissed skin, her coloring a few shades tanner from the intense sun. She closed her eyes as she pushed her mind wide, seeing in her mind’s eye the swirling colors of Cayan and the Lucius’s steadfast tones. Wider she pushed, finding the boys waiting for her over a hundred spans in the trees, and the edges of citizens going about their business in the town. Wider she stretched, pushing until the whole city looked like a collection of small, pulsing orbs. In the short time since the battle, she’d regained her strength nicely.

  When she opened her eyes the Captain was facing her. She hadn’t heard him move. Or Lucius, who had stepped away. Cayan was holding out his hand.

  So he did ask permission if he really wanted something. Interesting.

  She touched his arm, skin on skin. His mental touch brushed her barriers and she opened up, allowing him a shallow connection. She’d done this a million times before; sharing feelings and sensations with another. Her people used it to establish a connection for support, to train the young or get trained by the old, to share knowledge, or cement a deeper level of intimacy. The last thought called up a picture of Romie, his earth eyes shining with love.

  Pain gripped her heart and ripped. Staggering, she felt Cayan’s strong hand bracing her, keeping her upright.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, shaking her head a little to get her mind in the right place.

  Before she knew what was happening, a deep blast of profound compassion washed over her. Cayan had felt her tortured past and was responding. He hadn’t learned to keep his feelings to himself, and with a deep well of power to rival hers, she couldn’t stop him from intensifying their connection.

  He pushed deep down into her, filling her up and merging their power. Her whole body went light. The ground dropped away and her mind soared, pushed so far out that the world became a map of colors. Glittering, glowing, and tinkling, it was like sun flares. Her skin sizzled with the power flowing through her. It danced and played, meeting his. Growing. Blooming, and then blazing. Her eyes started to water and her skin began to singe. It was wild and raw and completely out of control. It was a warning.

  “Ease up,” Shanti said through clenched teeth, feeling like she was floating in a void, no sense of direction. She clutched onto his arm with both hands, needing solidity. She felt his hands grab her shoulders then reel her in, needing the same thing.

  “Ease up! Pull it back in!” she shouted, pushing at his steady torrent of power. Struggling with it. Molding it. Trying to force it out of her. It was like trying to build a dam in a flood.

  Lights blazed brighter, power surged around her, pulling at the seams in the fabric of her being. Her Gift wrapped around Cayan’s, melding the two, and then blazing brighter still. Color bleached and reformed in crystal clear imagery. The brain paths of every living thing for almost a league presented themselves in dots like a heat map. They pulsed and throbbed, matching her body. Emotions flooded her. Intents, desires, motives—her mind was fraying, Cayan’s with her. And then suddenly it all shut off.

  Shanti struggled for breath, flat on her back. Wrung out, the hot tingle of warning electrocuted her skin. Beyond that, though, was such an intense joy she was high off of it. It was probably the most grounding of all. A joy that intense was habit forming, and that was a terrifying thing with that much power. Especially with a man she barely knew who had no control.

  “Is it always like that?” the Captain asked in a shaky voice, getting slowly to his feet. Lucius was standing between them, white faced.

  “No. Do you feel tingling in your skin?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is not good.”

  “I figured. And the elation?” He reached around Lucius to help her up, but she shied away from his touch and hopped up.

  “What’s elation?”

  “Intense happiness. Almost too sweet.”

  “Also not good.”

  “I figured that, too.”

  “What was that?” Lucius asked with wide eyes. “Your skin burned my hands when I tried to separate you two.”

  “It is something best kept to yourself,” Cayan said in a flat voice.

  Lucius nodded, troubled. Shanti knew how he felt; she wasn’t much better off. And she certainly didn’t like the speculation in the Captain’s eyes.

  “Let’s go.” She nearly sprinted ahead. She had no idea what happened, but it wasn’t the time to d
issect.

  It was a short walk made long by Shanti’s acute analysis of the boys who had gone before her. They were supposed to leave no trace of their passing. Instead, there were broken tree branches, Gracas’ footfall, Xavier’s large frame knocking down leaves, and any number of little things an experienced tracker would see. Like Sterling, who was on their trail constantly.

  When Shanti and crew finally reached the large clearing chosen for that day, the boys were play fighting and horsing around. Shanti cleared her throat. As if she’d shouted, everyone immediately fell into line, facing her in order of seniority. How they figured who was ahead of whom, she had no idea, nor did she care. That was Xavier’s department. To her they were all one and the same, in need of different types of training because they had different skill sets.

  “I take it you didn’t hear the three of us coming?” Shanti began, strolling toward them, though not directly in front of them. She didn’t like addressing them in the weird line formation. It was too contrived.

  Cayan, however, felt perfectly fine standing directly in front of them, their backs perfectly straight.

  “No, s’am,” they answered in chorus.

  “Please take a moment to notice how large the men are who accompanied me.” They did. “They made no sound and probably left no trace of their passing. Xavier, how does that correlate to yesterday’s excuse?”

  “They are larger, or as big as me, and therefore I have no leg to stand on,” Xavier answered dutifully.

  “Precisely. Gracas—you salute me again and I will use that hand to painfully put your face in the mud. Yes?”

  “Yes, s’am.”

  “Why is it that when you have a sword in your hand, you are light footed, but when you walk naturally you leave a heavy tread? Are you worried the ground will disappear unless you stomp on it?”

  “No, s’am.”

  “You will spend half of tonight and half of tomorrow night practicing in the dark. Take a sword with you. In the morning you will take me along your trail and point out places you performed a misstep. Yes?”

  “Yes, s’am.”

  “I am glad to hear you cleverly disguising your distaste for that punishment. Okay, Sterling is making his way in our direction. We need to change locations. Xavier, you will have Leilius at your back. Leilius, count the infractions, but cover them up. Gracas, you lead Marc—excellent work, by the way, Marc. It seems you finally realize this training is useful. Or maybe that you’ve come to grips with the fact that you will someday have to be in the field.”

  Mark pouted. “The doctor said that the next time you follow us and jump out to yell ‘boo’ he’ll no longer train me. Since that is always your punishment, because you know the doctor hates surprises, I figure I should stop messing up.”

  “Too bad. I love scaring you two. Fair enough. Rachie, you are doing well. You can follow the group of your choice. My team will follow the other. Yes?”

  “Yes, s’am.”

  “Good. Off you go. And hurry, Sterling is moving fast this time.”

  They all looked at Xavier, who looked at Lucius. Who looked at the Captain. Who nodded.

  As all the boys took off, Cayan fell in beside Shanti. “Sam?”

  “Do you not realize how much longer that chain of command takes?” she asked, noticing Lucius falling in behind them.

  “If I were giving the orders, there would be no reason to check in,” the Captain said with a pompous air.

  “But you’re not giving the orders.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Shanti pushed down the irrational urge to punch him in the throat. “S’am is a mix between sir and ma’am. It was the only title Leilius could get right more than once.”

  “How often does Commander Sterling try to find you?”

  “Nearly every day. I used to change the times we met to keep him away, but it turned into a sort of game, and it is great practice, so I changed the times of our practice to his idle times.”

  “Has he ever found you?”

  “Not so far.”

  “Has he asked to watch your training outright?”

  Shanti snickered. “Nope. He took it upon himself to snoop. Then he realized we were on to him, so he did it to prove a point, I think. He was exuding determination for a solid week. Now I think he is playing the same game. He wants to best us. We want to keep besting him. A merry chase it has become.”

  “He doesn’t mean you harm?”

  “No, I don’t think so. He is intrigued, is my best guess. And like I said, now it’s a game.”

  “Commander Sterling doesn’t play games.”

  Shanti shot him a sideward glance. “Maybe you just don’t know the ones that turn him on.”

  “Is he the one that turned you down, then?” His tone was light, but the air got heavy. Shanti could tell Cayan was trying to hold his power at bay. He wanted to reach out and find out for himself, since he was a nosey bastard, but it seemed he also wanted to start controlling his Gift. Restraint was a very good thing with him.

  “No, but thanks for reminding me about that. I hate having unanswered questions.”

  The sound was not quite a growl, but it was close. It seemed the Captain hated mysteries. Men were incredible gossips!

  They met up with the boys again. Shanti congratulated them on doing better, then put them to work. Knife throwing was first. It was a handy skill to have no matter the overall discipline. If a baker needed to escape in a hurry, and saw someone coming through the door, throw the knife and run. It was an easy item to carry on one’s person; you didn’t have to be close to use it effectively, and one throw could kill with a small amount of exertion. The boys worked hard at it, and Shanti helped them in each stage of their training. Only Xavier and Gracas were able to hit revolving and rotating targets effectively, but the rest were definitely coming along.

  Next was archery. Rachie was excused, as was Leilius. They were crap. There was no point in wasting anybody’s time. Instead, those two worked on creating traps that could be left behind on a trail, intended to ensnare their victim, or simply kill or chop something off. Lucius and the Captain were extremely interested in that discipline.

  “Your people did this often?” Cayan asked, memorizing the construction of one particularly gruesome contraption.

  “Not often, no. I have, though. I have been hunted for the past year. Leaving these in my wake has…well, I’m still alive, so…”

  “They work.”

  “Very well.”

  Cayan straightened up and put his hands on his hips, analyzing her. “But anyone could fall victim. Civilians.”

  “Yes, which is why you only leave it when your life depends on it. Okay, boys, take it down.”

  His mind brushed hers again. “You’ve had some close calls.”

  “Very.” Shanti turned away from those probing eyes.

  “All right—“ What she recognized as Sterling’s brain pattern was winding closer. They were taking too long. They had about half an hour before he would find them. Bloody good tracker.

  “Time for your disciplines. Let’s push ourselves this time. Rachie, you are fighting with Lucius. No weapons. Give him hell. Leilius, I want you to see how close you can get to Sterling before he recognizes you. If he spots you, throw the fake knife and run like hell. If he chases you… well, I guess you’ll see how fast you are because you’ll surely get in trouble. Marc, watch Lucius like a hawk. He is one of us now. If he pushes too hard or gets hurt in any way, you are responsible—I can run very fast, so attempted escape will not help. Gracas, grab the real sword. You are with me. Xavier, try your size against the Captain. I have a feeling he’ll wipe that stupid smile off your face. Or he’ll make that face less handsome, and Miss Baker’s daughter won’t like you anymore.”

  The other boys chortled with laughter. Red filled Xavier’s cheeks.

  “All right, get gone.”

  Shanti took a moment to watch as Xavier walked up to the Captain very slowly, analyzing. Tr
ying to figure out the way the Captain’s body worked. Trying to work out the best method of attack. He didn’t get long. Cayan was experienced, and battle didn’t allow slow, analytical thought. He lunged, movement so fast it was almost blurry. Xavier parried and retreated immediately, backpedaling in surprise.

  Cayan slowed down for the younger man, picking a pace faster and more aggressive than Xavier was used to, but within his reach. Xavier saw this, blew out a breath that probably emptied his ego balloon, and got to work.

  Well done, Captain.

  Shanti connected with Lucius’ mind, not trusting the medic-in-training to recognize the warning signs. She felt the spicy touch of Cayan doing the same thing. The bugger learned way too fast. But maybe that was a good thing now?

  She still wasn’t sure.

  All of a sudden, a blur of metal whisked by her face. Gracas had turned on. The kid was like a switch. On or off, no warm up, no half way. He barely knew how his body worked, but the small control he did have was thrilling. Someday he might surpass Shanti with his skill in weaponry.

  Someday.

  The clang of metal rang through the clearing as Shanti’s sword rushed into the fray. Shanti couldn’t help a smile as they got to work.

  Twenty minutes and a solid sweat in, Shanti was on the attack, attempting to teach Gracas never to retreat straight back. That he should angle to one side or the other, trying to figure out how to turn a retreat into an attack. He was learning, but slowly. He’d fallen over every rock and stump in the clearing.

  As they fought, Shanti and Cayan paid attention to each other so they didn’t direct their fighters into one another. Suddenly Marc yelled, “Enough!”

  In a flash of an eye she had disarmed Gracas and was at Lucius’ side, evaluating.

  “I’m fine for now,” Lucius said, breathing fast but not overly taxed. Shanti would have let him go a little longer.

  Cayan had thrown Xavier across the clearing and was walking over with a stern expression. He looked at Marc. “Report.”

  The color drained out of Marc’s face. His body bowed and his face tilted toward the ground. Scrubbing at his nail, he muttered, “He is fine for now, yes, but his state has been weakening exponentially. He would injure himself before realizing he’d passed the line. It’s wise to stop him now, or at least dramatically slow his exertion.”